Pages

Sunday, 7 February 2010

Why John Crome was a Wherryman's Way fan

THE CASTLE Museum in Norwich is packing them in with its new exhibition on "Water Colour in Britain". As you'd expect there's a lot of good stuff - everything from JMW Turner to Anish Kapoor, Graham Sutherland and my favourite John Piper. But before you head for the Castle caff, make sure you pay homage to the galleries either side - those housing the works of the Norwich School of Artists.Its two leading lights were John Sell Cotman and John Crome. Together, at the beginning of the 19th century, they helped form a school which would last three generations. Its significance, says the Norwich Museum blurb, lies in "a realism based on direct observation".Yes, yes, but what's this got to do with the Wherryman's Way? Well the extraordinary thing is that people like Cotman and Crome - together with others like Joseph Stannard and George Vincent - delighted in painting WW scenes. They painted the Wensum, they loved Trowse Meadows. Postwick, Whitlingham, Thorpe, Brundall and Great Yarmouth are all beautifully captured. Stepping into these galleries is to see some of the greatest painters of their day immortalising scenes that are still partially recognisable to us today.* For more on the Norwich School of Artists see the Literary Norfolk website. This picture shows The Yare at Thorpe by John Crome.* The Watercolour exhibition at the Castle Museum runs until April 18th, 2010

No comments:

Post a Comment

The Book

The Blog

The blog started as a way of publicising Steve's book on the Wherryman's Way which was published by Halsgrove in 2010. Then it became a way of updating Wherryman's Way walkers. More recently it has spread its wings to the wider Broads. Around 1000 people take a look every month. Steve is now writing a second book provisionally called Riverside Norwich. You can follow his progress on that project here.

The Walk

The Wherryman's Way runs for 35 miles between Norwich and Great Yarmouth, following the route the wherries used to take along the rivers Wensum and Yare. Six years ago I was sitting in the White Horse, Chedgrave wondering why no-one had written a book about it. A few pints later my mates had convinced me I was the man. It was published in May 2010.

Footpath Closures:

Work repairing flood defences means sections of the walk can be closed for months at a time. Get the latest info here.